First grow and my autos are getting too tall, also how-to defoliation ?

[liltine]

Hi everyone, this is my first grow and everything went relatively well until the stretch started 2 weeks ago and now my tow plants are getting to the top of the tent and getting close to the lamp.

I followed the bubbleponics tutorial on here and it worked well thanks for that .

They are both in the same DWC 11 gallons tub with two air-stones, I top it of to 7gal and change the whole bath every week. Nutriments are a tri-part brand and they are currently on 90 % of the manufacturer recommended values with a cal-mag supplement in medium hardness tap water. I try to keep PH between 6 and 6.2.

Lamp is a 200w led lamp. 18-6 schedule.

I had trouble with temperature all during vegetative, September was crazy hot and i had no AC so the tent was 79°F most of the day. They still stayed very compact during veg and had to defoliate once because the leaves where all on top and each other creating lots of wet spots.

They are on day 40 and started stretching about tow weeks ago and are 3 time taller than before.

So I would like some advice:

Are they going to keep getting taller? They are getting to the top of the 6 feet tent now. (the seeds vendor says “size: compact”).

What can I do for the stems that are getting too close to the lamp that is already at the top?

Finally should I defoliate again? (already did it two times) the humidity is getting hard with all those leaves even with a 5 gal per day dehumidifier in the room. Plus I see a lot of pictures of plants with way less leaves than mine in flower.

Thanks for your help.

[golfnrl]

Hi liltine My guess is you have a few more days of stretch. Maybe three weeks for the stretch give or take. For the stems that get too close to the lamp, supercrop them. I've had to do that before. You can also gain some height in the tent by replacing those ratchet hangers with small chain available at a big box store for about a 1.00 a foot. I've done that too. I'm not sure I'd defoliate again, but compare your plants to those you'll see when you look at the defole tutorials on GWE. What is the RH in the tent and grow room? Bud rot is a concern if the RH is super high but it appears you're getting good airflow through your plants, that will help.

[Rwise]

Read this, it should answer all your questions.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/defoliation

https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-plant-training#bending

https://www.growweedeasy.com/basics

[SoOrbudgal]

I would not remove anything from those plants not 1 leaf for now. Those are some very tall growing autoflower plants, i would not use this breeder again if you wanted " compact autos " these may be those fast flowering types that are taller than autos but grow shorter than photos without topping? Who knows for sure but those are some of the tallest i've seen going on 6ft you say? All i would do is super crop them, study the word google it or research it on this site. Gently squeeze the stalks i use pliers gently crush it slowly bend it in different directions away from other branches if you can.

[rickbamber]

Yes, I used to get my auto flower seeds from Amsterdam, I got these seeds from Mephisto genetics, they took off like a rocket, very beautiful and frosty, big and very TALL. They are 71/2 weeks old now. I made a post earlier today about it. Maby you can answer-----will the buds that are at the recommended height, 24" be OK while a lot has been burned at the top of buds?

[OldManGrower]

I am 100% with SoOrbudgal. I believe your stretch is ended, the plant should be putting most of its energy into growing buds. You have good light penetration so there is no need to defoliate If you are concerned about light burn or additional height, supper crop them as in the tutorial on: https://www.growweedeasy.com/supercropping-magic-technique-to-control-cannabis-plant-height.

[liltine]

Hi liltine My guess is you have a few more days of stretch. Maybe three weeks for the stretch give or take. For the stems that get too close to the lamp, supercrop them. I've had to do that before. You can also gain some height in the tent by replacing those ratchet hangers with small chain available at a big box store for about a 1.00 a foot. I've done that too. I'm not sure I'd defoliate again, but compare your plants to those you'll see when you look at the defole tutorials on GWE. What is the RH in the tent and grow room? Bud rot is a concern if the RH is super high but it appears you're getting good airflow through your plants, that will help.

Hi , thanks for the help the RH in the room is 50% but i n the tent it goes up to 60% sometimes i can bring it down to 50% by putting the exhaust of the dehumidifier on the tent input but it gets the tent hotter 78°F 79°F.

Read this, it should answer all your questions.

thanks for the pointers i'm reading this .

would not remove anything from those plants not 1 leaf for now. Those are some very tall growing autoflower plants, i would not use this breeder again if you wanted " compact autos " these may be those fast flowering types that are taller than autos but grow shorter than photos without topping? Who knows for sure but those are some of the tallest i've seen going on 6ft you say? All i would do is super crop them, study the word google it or research it on this site. Gently squeeze the stalks i use pliers gently crush it slowly bend it in different directions away from other branches if you can.

I am 100% with SoOrbudgal. I believe your stretch is ended, the plant should be putting most of its energy into growing buds. You have good light penetration so there is no need to defoliate If you are concerned about light burn or additional height, supper crop them as in the tutorial on: https://www.growweedeasy.com/supercropping-magic-technique-to-control-cannabis-plant-height.

thanks for the help i'm reading and looking up supercropping and I'll try this on the taller stalks.
The tent is 6ft the plant with the pot is probably 5'6'' so yeah not that "compact" too be fair it was super compact in veg. i have 2 seeds left of this strain so i know what to expect but I'll probably try something else next time.

[SoOrbudgal]

Best of luck do not fear doing this method, yes looks like those need lots of topping and LST next time. Come back later show us what you did.

[Bluey]

If you can move a portable AC into the room and vent its exhaust out the window that will get your temps down and also get your RH down to where you ideally should be later in flower. Something around 400 to 500watt should do nicely.